


family business of saving the world

by TheSasQueen



Series: eyes up avengers, overwatch has your six. [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Overwatch (Video Game), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Eventual Relationships, I'm playing fast and loose with canon, Jack and Steve are related, M/M, Overwatch in SHIELD, Polyamory, Team as Family, You can pry my polyamory babies from my cold dead hands, fight me on this, polyship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-15 08:17:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19291846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSasQueen/pseuds/TheSasQueen
Summary: Steve goes under the ice leaving behind the past and what was left of his family, and wakes up to his grand-nephew working in the world's largest peacekeeping and intelligence agency.alternatively, Jack Morrison is related to Steve Rogers.





	1. chapter one.

**Author's Note:**

> I love Overwatch and thought this would be a fun thing to write that got waaaay out of hand and not there's thousands of words. I've been tossing this around with a friend of mine for ages and finally got down to writing it after finals. 
> 
> Overwatch isn't it's own organisation, it's a strike team within SHIELD that operates differently to the Avengers since OW is more militaristic.
> 
> I added my fave sniper from Destiny 2 because I love Gideon Emery's voice

When Steve woke up, he was greeted by a blond man who looked exactly like his cousin Wendell. Not identical, since Wendell was thirteen when he signed up for Project Rebirth. The man in front of him was older, easily his height, not as built as him but big enough to pose a threat. The radio in the background became white noise as he takes in the other man. Wendell looked roughly the same age as him, with the same nose and cheekbones that everyone in the family had. Suddenly, his blood ran cold at the idea of him being gone for a longer period of time than he thought. He sits up, giving the other a hard stare as he speaks. After everything that’s happened, he can’t be too careful. 

 

“Wendell?” 

 

Wendell coughs, a nervous smile on his face. Steve notes the various nicks and scars on Wendell’s hands and arms, the suit he was wearing and just about everything else really. The last time Steve saw Wendell, he was a teenage motormouth country boy who hung around him and Bucky whenever he came to New York. Bucky used to joke about how when Wendell grew up, he’d look exactly like Steve and just as skinny, but the man in front of him was easily his height and build. There’s something not right about his cousin, not just the age and body, but the way he stood and looked at Steve. It was hardly like the teen who’d visit his cousin up in the big city. The man in front of him had Wendell’s face, but the eyes were war-weary and sharp. How long had he been asleep for? Did another war happen? He’ll just have to see what Not Wendell had to say. 

 

“1955. The government fished you outta the sea but you were in a coma due to the cold waters. You’ve been in and out for a while, but you’re better now.” Not Wendell grinned, the same way he always did. Steve felt a little better at that point, more convinced that this was actually Wendell and he was back in New York. But there was a nagging feeling, at the back of his head, that something was still off. 

 

“I’ve been asleep since ‘45?” 

 

To Not Wendell’s credit, he doesn’t squirm. Just shrugs at Steve’s question and sits down on the chair near his bed. “More or less, under the ice. You woke up two months ago but the whole trapped under ice and freezing waters did a number on you. You missed out on a bit though, lot of readin’ to do there.” 

 

The drawl is semi-familiar. Wendell grew up in Bloomington, Indiana and his accent was noticeable to someone who grew up in New York. There’s still a slight lilt to Not Wendell’s words, but the accent is more neutral now. Then again, Steve’s missed out on nearly half of Wendell’s life at this point, so he can’t say anything. 

 

“I guess you’re right. At least we won the war, right?” Steve gives a small smile, hoping Not Wendell relaxed enough to slip up or come closer. There’s a small sliver of fear that his sacrifice meant nothing and HYDRA recovered him and used a decoy relative to coax him into compliance. If they were able to create a convincing enough human mask for the Red Skull, surely, they could do the same to an average person. He hears the scraping of the metal chair against the wooden floor and looks up to see Not Wendell had scooted closer to him. Steve shuffles closer to the edge of the bed, feet planted on the ground as he moves to get up. He doesn’t feel tired or sore, and he’s suspicious about that. He knows that the Super Soldier serum did enhance a lot of things, but a ten year-coma with no troubles? 

 

“Why don’t you come here and give me a hug? It’s been years since I’ve seen you.” The smile Steve has on his face is hopefully open and friendly, Not Wendell takes the bait and stands up to hug him. It’s odd, hugging Wendell who’s pretty much shot up to the same height as he was, with similar muscle mass. Once they part, Steve kicks the back of Not Wendell’s legs and puts him in a chokehold, legs wrapping around the other’s torso to ensure his hands don’t do anything to him. The two struggle on the floor, Not Wendell tries to kick Steve off but the chokehold just gets tighter. Steve hears a hissed “fucker” from the other, whose legs have stopped thrashing. 

 

“Who are you? HYDRA?” Steve practically snarls, as Not Wendell’s fingers dig into the material of his pants. There’s a choked gasp, finally, “I’m his grandson!” and Steve slowly lets go of him. The other man coughs, rubbing his throat as he stands and offers a hand to Steve. Still doubtful, Steve takes it anyways. “Jack Morrison, Wendell’s grandson. What tipped you off?” Not Wendell, now Jack, asks as he picks up the chair from the ground and sits on it. Steve settles back on the bed, slightly breathless at the revelation. 

 

“Your eyes. You’ve seen war.” Jack hums at Steve’s words, crossing his arms. “You’d be right. While the war you fought ended months later, there’s been plenty of wars since then. Not because of what happened, just shitty suits and politics.” Steve bites back a sigh at the fact nothing has changed, instead, he asks more questions. 

 

“What’s the year right now?” 

 

“2012. You’ve been under the ice for roughly seventy years. We found you a couple of months ago, thinking we’d bring up a dead body. But turns out, you’re alive. Welcome to the 21st century.” Jack’s hands do a little razzle-dazzle while he smiles, and Steve almost wants to laugh at how absurd it sounds until it finally sinks in. He’s in a new century, with new people and new politics. He’s out of his fucking depth and the people he knows might actually be dead. 

 

“Where am I?” Jack hesitates at that question, silence falling in between them before he answers. “You’re in a SHIELD facility. SHIELD was created to protect the world against threats like HYDRA, founded by Howard Stark, Colonel Phillips, and Peggy Carter.” If Steve’s heart skips a beat at the mention of Peggy, he ignores it. “Tell me about Wendell.” He demands, sitting up straight and looking Jack in the eye. Jack’s face grew fond, expression open as he talks. 

 

“After you went were declared missing, he was of course devastated. He fought hard for answers regarding what happened to you, and it was Miss Peggy who told him what happened. Wendell worked for SHIELD until he retired and moved back to Indiana. He got married and had two kids, Lucien and John. We’re John’s kids. He has a farm down in Bloomington. Uncle Lucien’s… always running around the world somewhere. Pops never worked for SHIELD, but he served, and so did I before SHIELD recruited me. I have a twin brother, by the way, his name’s James. We call him Jimmy for short.” 

 

The warmth that bloomed in his chest is indescribable. Hearing what remained of his family thrive and grow over the decades, and now meeting one of them. Despite their rocky beginning, Steve clamps a hand on Jack’s shoulder and gives him a real smile. “It’s good to meet you, Jack.” The grin Jack gives is reassuring, and he gets pulled into another hug. This time warmer and sincere. 

 

Their moment was interrupted when the door opened, a dark-skinned man with an eyepatch and trench coat swooping into the room. His mouth was twisted in a frown, single-eyed stare directed at Jack. “You weren’t supposed to break your character Morrison,” to which Jack replied, “With all due respect Director Fury if history’s greatest soldier is choking you out and demanding answers. You give it to him.” Steve lets out a snort of laughter, Fury gives Jack a hard stare before sighing, “Valid I suppose.” 

 

“Captain Rogers, my name is Nick Fury, director of SHIELD. As Commander Morrison said, you’re being kept under observation to ensure a swift recovery. We’ll help you get up to speed on what happened in the world, Morrison and his team will be your guides in the next few months to get you used to everything.” And with that, he left. 

 

“As the boss said, you’re stuck with my team for a while. We’ll be transferring you to another part of the base, but it’ll be much more relaxed. We’ll basically teach you what you’ve missed since you went under the ice and help out in any way possible. After that, Fury decides. Come on, I’ll introduce you to a few people.” 

 

Steve follows Jack through the door, surprised at the sleek walls and glass that made up the facility he’s being held in. The metal floor is cold under his bare feet, and Steve makes a mental note to ask for footwear and more clothes. The two of them garnered a few stares, but Jack tells Steve to ignore them as he opens a door into what appears to be a control room of sorts. There were only a few people staring at... Steve couldn’t fight the right word for the glass that displayed the footage. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before, and he tries to sneak a closer look when a loud laugh caught his attention. He follows Jack to the source of the laugh, a large olive-skinned man with a beanie and beard who was cackling over something he was watching. The man in the chair shoved the beanie-man to the side, snapping at him though Steve can see there wasn’t any heat to his words. Once they’re close enough, Steve sees it was the footage of him and Jack fighting earlier. 

 

“Seriously Reyes?” Jack grumbles, a hand reaching over to punch Reyes on the arm. Reyes laughs in reply, retaliating the punch as his laughs died down. “It’s not every day I see you get taken down in a chokehold like that, boy scout.” Reyes teases, dodging the punch the seated man aimed at him. “Okay, you get choked by Captain America and see how you like it.” Jack snarls, leaving Steve’s side to bicker with Reyes. 

 

“Whatever Morrison, I’ll tell everyone you got your ass handed over to you by a ninety-year-old.” 

 

Reyes sneers, as he and Jack threw playful punches at each other. The man in the chair stands up, putting aside his headset and runs a hand through his wavy black hair as he rolls his eyes at the two. He steps closer to Steve, hand out in an offer to shake and a smile that reached his icy-blue eyes. 

 

“Agent Jason Vesper, part of Morrison’s team. I mainly handle tech and logistics on field missions but trained as a handler. It’s an honour to meet you, Captain Rogers. Ignore the two idiots, even though they are my COs.” 

 

The way Vesper casually insulted his COs surprised Steve, but he could see the fondness in Jason’s words. “Not military Vesper?” He asks, a bit curious about the kind of people that worked for SHIELD. “No sir, I’m an analyst, used to work for Australia’s intelligence agency. Blew a whistle and SHIELD noticed my work. And please, just Jason.” Although Steve only had a vague idea on what ‘blew the whistle’ means, it must have been impressive enough to garner the attention of an organisation that focused on world peace. He shook Jason’s hand, nodding as he introduced himself. “Steve Rogers, but I guess everyone here knows that. Good to meet you too.” 

 

Reyes had stopped bickering with Jack and offered his own hand to shake, grin on his face. “Commander Gabriel Reyes, call me Gabe. I co-lead the Overwatch team and lead the second unit Blackwatch. Great to meet you, Rogers.” 

 

Gabe shakes his hand enthusiastically, and Steve couldn’t help but be amused at his enthusiasm. He and Gabe talk about their experience of different wars while Jack helps Jason clean up his station before the four of them walk towards another part of the facility. Steve listened to the three chat, touched that they tried to incorporate him into their conversation. He’s led to a locker area where he’s given shoes and comfier clothes to match the ones Jack, Gabe and Jason were wearing and bore the SHIELD insignia. They moved on to the armoury, where another agent was waiting for them. Unlike the trio, this man seemed to be older, judging by the silver that streaked his hair and beard. He hands the sniper rifle off to an awaiting technician before facing the newcomers. 

 

“Sergeant Devrim Kay, sniper and defence specialist. Formerly of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in the British Army. Pleased to meet you, Captain.” 

 

The deep, English-accented voice threw Steve off for a minute, both of them shaking hands as Steve nodded. The five of them headed to another area of the facility, this time a larger room with couches and a small kitchenette. It looked like a break room, and it was already occupied. An older woman sat on one of the couches, grey braid tucked neatly into her headscarf and an eyepatch watched them with her sharp eye. An unusual tattoo under her eye that curled over her cheekbone. Accompanying her was a younger blonde woman in a lab coat, nursing a mug of coffee. 

 

“Steve, meet Captain Ana Amari. Fellow sniper and scout, she’s also trained as a combat medic with her specialised rifle. Used to be in the Egyptian Defense Force. Next to her is Doctor Angela Ziegler, another combat medic and resident medical staff. She’s been briefed on your medical history. You ever feel funny, go straight to Angie.” 

 

Dr Ziegler bolts up and walks over to Gabe, pinching his ear as he yelps. “Gabriel, you did not come to me after your briefing. Jason told me there might be foreign contaminants in your body and most importantly the nanites, come with me.” Gabe gives Jason the middle finger and follows the doctor, leaving Steve confused. Nanites? What the hell are those? Just how much did technology advance? 

 

“Is Gabe hurt?” He asks, slightly concerned over his companion. He’s met with tense silence, no one looking at him before Devrim speaks. “He was, but his healing factor kicked in. Once he checks out with Angie he’ll be alright.” That just raises more questions for Steve, who looked towards Jack. “Healing factor? Is he enhanced in some kind of way?” When Jack wouldn’t meet his gaze or answer his question, anger bubbled in his gut at the implication. It was Jason who spoke up, expression stern as he crosses his arms. 

 

“Jack and Gabe were part of an illegal military project similar to what you underwent Captain Rogers, it was called the Soldier Enhancement Program and they tried to recreate you. They had no idea about it, some bullshit higher up duped a hundred men into the program before they were found out.” 

 

Steve’s blood ran cold, looking at Jack. The anger bubbling earlier had grown to a full inferno in his chest. His fists clenched, looking between Jack and Jason for information. “What happened to it? Is it still ongoing? Who did it?” Jason places a hand on his arm, and Steve can see how everyone in the room had tensed at his anger. He slowly breathes, nodding for the agent to continue. “SHIELD busted the project after candidates started dying left and right, Jack was lucky to get away with minor complications. Gabe’s another story, one of the scientists in the SEP was experimenting with illegally obtained prototype nanotechnology and infused it with Gabriel’s DNA. Now he’s... kinda fucked up. We’re one of the only people who can deal with his condition, so naturally, he and Jack joined SHIELD.” Jason says bluntly, typing something into a tablet he was carrying and handing it to Steve. “If you’re curious about SEP, it’s all here. You have a right to know. And everything you need to know in the seventy years, politically and socially.” 

 

Steve takes the tablet, clumsily navigating through it with the aid of Devrim and reads. He’s entirely focused on reading when he gets the hang on how it works, head spinning at the amount of progress, disappointments and events that had happened in his years of absence. He was proud of some things, like the Civil Rights Movement, but events like 9/11 were absolutely appalling. He feels a hand shake his shoulder, and he sees Jack looking at him with a smile. “C’mon Steve, you gotta eat. It’s been five hours.” It didn’t feel like five hours, but Steve looks up to see a large table had been set up in the room with people sitting around it. This must be Jack’s team, and everyone had trays of food in front of them. Setting the tablet down, Steve takes a seat in between Jack and Ana, the Egyptian woman. She gives him a smile, patting his arm warmly. 

 

“It’s very nice to meet you Steven, Jack would not stop talking about you since they found you. Eat up, God knows you need a solid meal after everything that’s happened.” Her husky voice was soothing, Steve couldn’t help but straighten his back and smile back. “Yes ma’am,” he grins, to which she tuts. “Call me Captain Amari when we’re working, but in spaces with family and friends, call me Ana.” The look she gives him offers no room for compromise, so Steve nods before a tray is slid in front of him. 

 

It’s practically overflowing with food, and Steve notices Jack and Gabe’s trays are similar. He takes a bite, and another, and inhales the entire tray before long, sighing as he sets his fork down. “It certainly tastes better than food back then.” He comments, startled when he gets looks of pity thrown at him. “Steve this is considered mess hall food, meaning not that great but enough to keep ourselves from not dying. Just wait until you actually get out in the world.” Gabe laughs. He’s joined by the others in the team with promises of bringing Steve homemade food. 

 

Jack’s team, the Overwatch Rapid Strike Team, was an interesting one. It was a diverse mix, people with various skills and talents. He had met Ana and Angela, and when he finished his meal he turned to converse with the others and get to know them better. It was only polite, and maybe Steve would be working with them in the future on SHIELD missions. 

 

The first person he talked to was a massive German man, somehow bigger than Steve, named Reinhardt Wilhelm. He was the team’s shield tank trained to hold points and provide cover with his energy shield. He was loud, friendly, and quite the fighter with his rocket hammer. Steve listened with rapt attention as Reinhardt described his earlier days in the German Army as part of a specialised force called the Crusaders. 

 

The small Swedish man Torbjorn Lindholm was the team’s engineer, charged with keeping their equipment working and building turrets, his right eye and left arm a machine. He told Steve about how he lost both of them during a mission and how Reinhardt saved him. Torbjorn showed Steve a holographic image of one of his newest turrets, beaming when Steve stared in awe. 

 

Next to Torbjorn was a young English gal, a strange mechanism strapped to her chest that pulsed with bright blue light. Her name was Lena Oxton, a pilot and unfortunate victim of what she called ‘chronal disassociation’ due to an experimental fighter jet, and that device helped anchor her to the world. Steve was horrified at the thought of disappearing into oblivion and commended her positive attitude. Lena’s face turned bright red, giggling and hiding behind a man in a cowboy hat. 

 

The cowboy introduced himself as Jesse McCree, a sharpshooter and part of Gabriel’s specialised team Blackwatch. He sees that Jesse’s left arm was mechanic like Torbjorn’s, and Jesse informs him he lost it in a mission gone FUBAR, but luckily, he was able to fend off enemies using his trick Deadeye, whatever that meant. Despite how smooth and polite Jesse was, Steve couldn’t help at the snort at the idea of a cowboy walking down the streets of New York. He hears the jingling of spurs from when Jesse kicks his teammate, who had made a snarky comment. 

 

The man next to Jesse was someone Steve could have read in a science fiction novel. He was half-human, half-machine, a cyborg Jesse had called him. From what flesh he could see, it was littered with scars and burn marks. His name was Genji Shimada, part of Blackwatch with Jesse and Gabe. A sword leaned against the table next to him, Steve has never seen a sword like that before. Genji catches his gaze, nodding silently before going back to arguing with McCree. 

 

There was a young woman on the other side of Jesse, with a tattoo under her eye like Ana. She introduced herself as Fareeha Amari, Ana’s daughter. She was an ex-Egyptian Defense Force soldier like her mother who flew in a specialised armour suit and used a rocket launcher as a weapon. She was strong, her grin large as she shook Steve’s hand. Steve caught the fond gaze Ana shot at them, nodding at the older woman with a smile. 

 

The last person on the team was not a person at all, rather, a gorilla. An insanely smart, talking scientist gorilla who stumbled over his words awkwardly. It was endearing, how he was in awe over Steve. Once the initial shock wore off, Steve enjoyed listening to Winston’s research. The gorilla used his hands when talking and even wore a pair of spectacles, Steve was amazed at how human his mannerisms were. 

 

Everyone was curious to hear Steve’s stories about the past, sharing their own experiences and telling him about the new world. It was thrilling to speak to them, it was like he was back with the Howling Commandoes. His heart hurt, at the idea of everyone being gone and not knowing he was still alive. Perhaps someone could help him track the members down and pay respects if needed. Once mealtime was over, people started leaving. Hugs were given, and Steve found himself in between Lena and Fareeha, who said welcome to SHIELD and hugged him before departing. Even Winston mumbled a goodbye before making his way out of the room. Steve couldn’t help but smile, feeling a tiny bit hopeful at new friends who’ll help him in this century. 

 

Some of the Overwatch members had other duties, but Devrim, Jason and Gabe said goodbye to Steve since they had to leave for a mission. Steve saw the four men hug, stifling a sound of surprise when he sees Devrim give Jason a quick peck on the cheek before the three agents left. Steve doesn’t know if he should say something, but his fear turns to surprise when he sees Jack smile, eyes soft as he explains. “It’s okay Steve, things have changed now. The government now’s pretty supportive, they passed the marriage equality act in New York last year so the LGBTQ community can get married now. Besides, it’d be hypocritical of me to reprimand Jason for loving a man when I’m on the same wagon.” 

 

There are so many questions that Steve wants to ask, but he’s too busy grinning and god his chest fucking aches for Bucky and how he would’ve loved the 21st century. Jack throws an arm over his shoulders and shakes Steve a bit, ignoring the wetness of Steve’s eyes before the two of them entered a room with a long table and several people in suits. He sits down, wary of the silence before Jack speaks. 

 

“Just sorting out some legal stuff, like changing your status from MIA to alive. You’ll be entitled backpay from the government, and there might be some publicity needed if you wanna go public with your status. There’s an apartment in Midtown you can use to get a feel of the city, get to know the world a bit Sorry it isn’t Brooklyn, that place is real expensive nowadays. Don’t worry, you won’t be alone. I’m in the city until a major mission comes up to help you out.” 

 

There’s some comfort in knowing that Jack would be there to help, and Steve sits up straighter when the suits start speaking and giving him papers to sign. It’s weird, confirming that he wasn’t dead. He signs his name on the requires spaces, making small talk with the legal team before he was whisked away by Jack again to the SHIELD-sanctioned apartment. His stomach’s in knots, eager to explore the new world but also dreading it.


	2. chapter two.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> new mission. new adversaries
> 
> same old tesseract bullshit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly unoriginal and most of this is retconning the first Avengers movie with sprinkled bits of Overwatch and my take on Steve and the Avengers team. Really sorry if the writing's clunky. 
> 
> Buckle up because it took a hell of a while to write and I'm happy with this.

New York in the 21st century was not what he expected at all. All the lights were strange, the sounds and smells were thankfully somewhat familiar. He appreciated the busyness and anonymity the crowd granted him, letting the flow of people lead him through the city. He visited his old neighbourhood in Brooklyn, surprised at how he still knew the streets like the back of his hand. Of course, things have changed, but walking through the streets gave him comfort. Steve thought about tracking down Bucky’s family and tell them he was alive, but he’s not sure if he has the courage to do that. Maybe in the future, he might get the chance. 

 

Despite his excitement in embracing his new life, it was hard. He had to learn a lot of things, the simple stuff he’s sure kids know how to do these days. It took him an embarrassingly long time to learn how to use a phone, but Jack was patient with him. Speaking of his grand-nephew, that man was a blessing in human form. Jack went above and beyond to make sure Steve was comfortable, willing to fill the silences between them in their shared apartment. A few of the Overwatch team even visited them in New York when they had a little break between missions. Gabe, Devrim, Jason, Ana, Fareeha and Lena popping into his apartment. They had a small dinner party, courtesy of Jason and Gabe’s cooking skills. It was great, seeing everyone relaxed and joking, making him feel welcome.  

 

It was after dinner when everything was winding down and dishes were being washed that Jack pulled him away from the group. Steve followed him, confused when Jack led him to his own bedroom and closed the door. His grand-nephew was nervous, that much Steve can tell. He’s about to ask him what was wrong when Jack speaks. 

 

“So, you’re pretty okay with Devrim and Jason right?” Jack asks. 

 

This wasn’t what Steve thought Jack would say, but he nods. “Son, I went to art school. Knew a few people who are like that back in the day.” 

 

Jack snorts, shaking his head with a smile. “Of course you did, artists huh? And you know I’m married to Gabe.  

 

_That_ Steve knew. During one of their many walks around the city, Jack had told him about his and Gabe’s relationship. Starting from friendship in the army to getting married secretly shortly after joining SHIELD. Of course, only a few people at work knew, but still, Steve didn’t know why Jack was bringing it up again. 

 

“Gabe and I… we love Jason and Devrim too. All four of us are together.” 

 

“Oh…” 

 

That caught him off guard. 

 

“Is it… okay?” 

 

“Kind of, not really. I mean it happens but its usually frowned upon. But I love them, all three of them. I’m telling you this because I trust you, and the team wants to trust you too.”  

 

Steve’s touched that they want to trust him with this. It’s unusual yes, but he’s seen stranger things, and he knows the people Jack loves are good and honest men. He nods, grinning when Jack lets out a shaky exhale of relief. The two hug briefly before re-joining the dinner party, which had cracked open another bottle of wine in their absence. Steve was content in watching the others chat and bicker, only snapping out of his silence when Ana sits next to him. 

 

“Jack did not want to keep it a secret from you. The Morrisons are not the type to keep things hidden, plus I’m quite sure you’d find out sooner or later during Thanksgiving.” Steve can only nod at that, letting the matter settle.  

 

The rest of the night goes smoothly, with the husbands, as everyone else called them, being more open with their affection now that Steve knew. They were discussing a new facility they’ll be stationed at for the next few weeks, something Jason was excited about. It wasn’t exactly top secret, but little was revealed about the details of the place that had everyone excited.  

 

They left at midnight, singing their goodbyes and leaving Jack and Steve alone in the apartment. They finished cleaning the table when Steve breaks the silence with a grin. 

 

“So, how’d a fella like you get not one but three husbands?” 

 

— 

 

Two days after the dinner party Jack leaves for a SHIELD emergency, and next morning Fury approaches him at the boxing gym with a mission.  

 

Of course, it’s about the Tesseract. That damned thing’s still kicking around in this century. The sight of the glowing blue cube takes him back to images of soldiers getting vaporized by HYDRA weapons, Schmidt’s ugly red mug and freezing cold water. It was a bad day for him, nightmares about the war replaying in his mind. The news of someone stealing it doesn’t help, so all he could do was give Fury the only thing he knew about the Tesseract before leaving to pack. 

 

It wasn’t much, just the essentials in a duffel bag. He’s picked up by a jet to take him to mission base, sturdier and faster than the plane Howard and Peggy hijacked for him when he rescued Bucky and the 107th. The agent with him was a fan, Coulson, decent guy that Steve knew he could depend on. He had heard of the stories from the Overwatch team about the man, somewhat curious to see how they hold to the real thing. When Coulson says he helped redesign his old outfit, Steve can’t help but be wary. 

 

“Hopefully this one’ll fit better, the old monkey suit from the war ads were a real drag.” 

 

“Don’t worry, this is fully functional. We had our techs make sure it’s perfect.” 

 

“Good, that’s good. Just asking, is Overwatch on the mission?” 

 

Coulson’s lips quirk slightly like he was expecting the question. Steve supposes it was predictable given how close he was to the team since he woke up. 

 

“They’re on the carrier. Overwatch’s mission is to provide support for your team at this stage. Commander Morrison will speak to you regarding strategy and positions once you’ve met the others.” 

 

Steve nods, smiling at the thought of working with Jack and his team. When the quinjet lands, he and Coulson are greeted by a redheaded woman, Natasha Romanoff. Just as Coulson leaves, they’re joined by Bruce Banner. Steve saw the footage, knew how strong the mild-looking doctor when he was the other guy. But this was Bruce Banner, and he’s smart enough to help them find the cube. As they make their way inside the helicarrier, Steve spots a bright flash of blue out of the corner of his eye and bright laughter, smiling faintly at the familiar sound of Lena. The three make small talk before Natasha warns them to go inside soon, and then the whole damn ship is up in the air. Steve’s in awe over everything, from the gigantic propellers lifting the battleship up into the air, he follows the redhead into the ship and into an open area where Fury was. 

 

The bridge was a whole other story. Red Skull’s plane was impressive, but this was something else. Steve stared at everything, slipping Fury ten bucks as he walked out to the platform. He sees Jason busy at a nearby console, speaking into the headset and typing simultaneously. Steve saw Romanoff wander to a console with a picture of a man, sliding it out of the way before she walks over to lead Banner to the lab. He walks over to where Jason was, tapping the man on the shoulder with a smile. 

 

“Captain, a pleasure to see you as always.” Jason greets him, patting Steve on the arm as he looks away from the various camera feeds. 

 

“This was the mission you were talking about at dinner?” 

 

“Yessir, she’s a top of the line battleship with the latest goodies. How are you holding up? It’s not every day you get asked to be part of a team of extraordinary people and be a hero. One minute it’s a world war, the next it’s a glowing rock from space.” 

 

Steve snorts at that, rolling his eyes at the way Jason’s smirking. 

 

“I’m starting to think it’s hereditary, with Jack and  _his_  team. Speaking of Overwatch, where are they?” 

 

Jason pulls up several camera feeds of inside the ship, flicking through them before finding the others. 

 

“In one of the mess areas, pretty deep inside the ship. I’ll ping them to swing by later, Fury would want you here in the platform or in the science lab Doctor Banner’s using. By the way, you dress like Wendell on bingo night you old fart.”  

 

Steve looks down at his outfit, slightly offended and pokes Jason on the side before going back up to the large table. He sees Coulson smile at him, approaching the man to talk. 

 

“I see you’re familiar with Agent Vesper, he’s good at what he does.” 

 

“Yeah, met him when I woke up and got introduced to Jack’s team. Romanoff said you had trading cards? It’d be my pleasure to sign them.” Steve could practically see the stars in Coulson’s eyes at the very thought of a simple autograph. 

 

“I mean if it’s not a bother.” 

 

“No, no. It’s fine.” 

 

They’re interrupted when one of the agents says there’s a facial hit on Loki. Steve grimaces at how open the trickster is, nodding when Fury tells him to suit up. He’s shown to a room with weapons and in the centre, his armour. The colours were bright and unmistakably him, though Steve can tell it was sturdier than the old uniform he had during the war. It wasn’t as bulky, but simple. He stands there for a minute, taking in the uniform and the shield.  _His_  shield, that they pulled out of the ice along with him. When he finishes suiting up, shield in hand ready to go, someone clears their throat behind him. Steve turns around, eyes wide at the entire Overwatch team behind him. 

 

“We wanted to wish you luck, before your first mission. “ 

 

Jack pulls him into a hug, followed by Gabe and Devrim and Jason. The five of them locked together as Steve takes a deep breath and nods. It makes him miss the Howling Commandos, Bucky and the old war. But now, in this period of history, he’s not as alone as he thought. The other Overwatch team members come forward one by one to wish him luck, escorting him to the hangar where Romanoff was waiting near a quinjet. Overwatch says goodbye as he boards the jet, sitting on one of the seats while Lena was performing pre-flight checks on the ship and their weapon system. Steve waves at the other as the door closes, putting on the safety straps and watching as the two women launch the jet into the night sky. 

   
The whole flight was tense silence, with Lena occasionally mentioning distance or ETA. Once they got to Germany, the trio can see people pouring out of a building, a glowing figure flanking them slowly. A bolt of blue energy, a police car explodes and skids across the road. Steve’s frantically undoing the buckles of the safety straps, securing the shield in his hand before slamming the button that opens the quinjet’s ramp. Someone’s shouting at him to be careful and wear a parachute, but Steve’s heart is racing when he sees one man stand up against Loki. He jumps out of the jet, landing just in time to intercept the beam of energy from killing the old man. He sends a heated glare towards the trickster god as he recalled his last mission in Germany. He tries not to look at the glowing blue gem of the sceptre, reminding him too much of the Tesseract in Schmidt’s hands, instead he focuses on throwing Loki off his rhythm and subduing him. 

 

He’s thrown to the ground by the god when he hears music, loud and obnoxious ringing through the air. Steve’s looking for the source, staring at the quinjet in confusion before a trail of light zooms closer to them, gleaming red and gold armour blasting Loki to the ground and landing next to him. 

 

“Stark.” 

 

“Captain.” 

 

Steve grabs Loki while Stark handles the spear, taking him into the quinjet and strapping him in before they fly to the helicarrier. Steve’s eyeing the trickster, a frown on his face before he turns to the genius. 

 

“I don’t like it.” 

 

“What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?”  

 

Steve has no idea what Stark is referencing, squinting at him before he continues. 

 

“I don’t remember it being ever that easy. This guy packs a wallop.” Steve is  _still_  sore from when Loki threw him on the ground. For someone who doesn’t look like he could pack a punch, he could knock Steve out if he wanted to.  

 

“Still, you are pretty spry, for an older fellow. What's your thing? Pilates?” Steve gives Stark an annoyed look, shouldn’t they be taking this more seriously? 

   
“I beg your pardon?” 

 

“It’s like... callisthenics schtick. You might have missed a few things doing time as a Capsicle.” 

 

While Steve was glad his old friend Howard settled down and had a family, he didn’t realise just how much of a pain in the ass Tony Stark would be. He was arrogant without the charm or brightness Howard had. 

 

“Fury didn’t tell me you’d be joining us.” 

 

“There’s a lot of things Fury doesn’t tell you.” 

 

When thunder crackles in the sky and something lands on the jet, Steve’s immediately in a defensive position. Someone grabs Loki and flies off with him, Stark follows suit in his own armour, the light of the thrusters diminishing in the stormy night. Romanoff’s trying to talk him down from following them, but Steve’s determined. 

 

“With all due respect Agent Romanoff, I’m not letting this one slide.” 

 

He’s preparing to jump off the ramp to follow Stark when Lena’s voice cuts through the howl of the wind. 

 

“Oi! Use a chute this time Rogers! otherwise, I’ll tell Ana!” 

 

Steve grimaces at the thought of receiving a scolding from the older Egyptian woman, remembering her stern and cold attitude when she was reprimanding Genji for being reckless on the field. He straps on a chute, securing the shield before slamming the button and jumping out. Once he lands, he makes his way to where he hears fighting and throws his shield at the Asgardian and Stark, telling them to quit it. That goes about as well as he expects to, with punches thrown and a part of the forest levelled by an electric blast.  

 

— 

 

They detain Loki, SHIELD agents escorting him to a glass prison where Fury was talking to him. Steve and the rest of the team watched through the monitors, flicking their gazes between the god and director. Once the conversation ended, they all sat there in silence. 

 

“He really grows on you huh?” 

 

Banner’s quip is tinged with anger, and Steve can’t blame him. The containment unit was originally made for him and the Hulk, which goes to show how ‘prepared’ SHIELD was in case anything happened. The talks go back and forth before Thor drops the ball on what exactly lies ahead of them. 

 

“An army, from outer space.” 

 

_What the hell_  

 

Erik Selvig was one of the men taken when Loki first emerged from the portal. A civilian. One of the mission objectives was to rescue him, but now with the threat of an extraterrestrial army, everything just got more complicated. 

 

“He’s not gonna lead an army from here.” 

 

Banner makes a slight against Loki, who Thor defends. He only concedes when Romanoff deadpans Loki’s body count since he came to Earth, the god faltering at the grim reality. The conversation moves to the stolen mineral before Stark enters the room with his own opinion. Steve watches as Stark steps onto the platform and gives mock orders, mimicking Fury and calling out an agent for slacking off. 

 

Banner and Stark start talking science, throwing words Steve can’t even begin to understand when Stark exclaims, 

   
“Finally, someone who speaks English.” 

 

“Is that what it is?” 

 

He ignores the look Stark gives him, instead, focusing his attention on Loki’s sceptre and the beams of energy it casts out. It wasn’t as destructive as the HYDRA weapons, but it was powerful and dangerous. Fury throws in a line about flying monkeys, and Steve exclaims how he understood that reference. Only to annoy Stark, of course, the eye-roll was worth it. The two geniuses depart from the table to the lab, while Steve leaves to stop by the commissary to grab something to eat. 

 

 

When he enters the lab, he’s greeted by the sight of Stark poking Banner with something. Rage fills him as he storms into the room, yelling at Stark to back the fuck up from the scientist.  

 

“You need to focus on the mission Mr Stark” 

 

Stark gives him a look, equal parts annoyed and indignant. 

 

“You think I’m messing around? Then tell me this Captain, why is Fury only calling us in now. Why not earlier? Why wait until the cube was taken before flying in his little boy band? I can’t work the equation if I don’t have all the variables.” 

 

“You think Fury’s keeping secrets?” 

 

The look of disbelief Stark gives him makes him bristle, but he doesn’t react. 

 

“Captain, he’s  _the_  spy of the world’s biggest spy agency. It’s bugging him too.” 

 

Banner looks surprised to be included in the conversation, stumbling over his words before he joins in on questioning SHIELD’s motives. Steve listens, standing straight as the doctor talks but he’s shocked when Stark reveals that he’s hacking into SHIELD’s files remotely. 

 

“And you wonder why they didn’t ask you to join them in the first place.” 

 

“An intelligence organisation that  _fears_  intelligence? Not a thing.”  

 

“Just stay focused on the mission. We have our orders, I suggest you follow them.” 

 

“Being a follower is... really not my style.” 

 

“And you’re all about style, aren’t you Stark?” 

 

Stark looks pissed, getting into his space, tone cold when he speaks. 

 

“Hold up, who exactly looks like a walking flag and is not of use?” 

 

Banner walks closer, nervous about intervening but his words were steady. 

 

“Steve, aren’t you even remotely suspicious about all this?”  

 

He hates that Banner might be right, but he gives them their order of finding the Tesseract before leaving. He pauses and looks towards the way back to the bridge before stalking off in the opposite direction. He thought about finding the Overwatch team, but there are more pressing matters at the moment. 

 

— 

 

Tony’s confident Jarvis and his program can break through whatever firewalls and safety nets SHIELD has for their mainframe. He’s a genius, hacking comes easy for someone who designed their own AI. Taking that little bug that contained the most sophisticated hacking software was the right call to make and he’s only getting started when a beep alerts him that he had a message waiting for him. Puzzled, he glances at Bruce to make sure the scientist was occupied before looking at the screen. 

 

_I see you Stark_  

 

Well shit, he didn’t think he’d be found out this soon. Sifting through the screen, he pulls up the camera feed on the bridge and stares at how calm everything is. Fury’s still at the helm, giving out orders as SHIELD agents walk back and forth to keep this behemoth of a ship afloat. Someone knows but hasn’t told Fury or anyone else that he was in their systems. Jarvis alerts him that whoever intercepted him has deployed stronger and complicated firewalls to keep him out. Alright, he’ll play. 

 

_Congratulations you found me. Nice trick trying to keep Jarvis out. But you’ll have to do better._  

 

He only regrets the taunt when Jarvis, in an even more urgent tone, tells him that malicious ware is actively attacking him to forcefully eject him. 

 

_Is that better?_  

 

Tony’s actually impressed by how aggressive the attack is, pulling Jarvis back and slowing down the hacking before he smirks.  

 

_Okay, you’ve piqued my interest. Why haven’t you given me over to the big boss pirate?_  

 

Instead of continuing the hack, Tony has Jarvis track down the SHIELD agent who’s talking to him. Whoever they are, they’re good. Each attempt to digitally track the agent is shut down until Tony resorts to looking through the cameras at each agent’s screen on the bridge individually. 

 

_Because I’m a paranoid bastard who knows what bullshit smells like. I’m interested as to why_ **_you_ ** _were called in now when there were plenty of opportunities for a collaboration with you back when you still sold weapons. But you’re here now, to find a glowing cube with your flying tin can_  

 

An agent who does their own thing and questioning the system, how refreshing. Tony’s enjoying their little game, thinking over his next words. 

 

_You don’t trust your own organisation, interesting. And here I thought everyone had a stick up their ass. What’s your next move agent?_  

 

A pause in the replies, perfect, gives Tony enough time to zero in on potential people for his hacker friend. One agent’s screen stands out because it has a camera feed of his and Bruce’s lab. A quick scan of the personnel files gave his name and skills. 

 

Jason Vesper, technician and analyst.  

 

_Piggyback your program and wait_  

 

_Letting someone else do the dirty work for you, smart. I’ll be in touch Vesper_  

 

_Of course, you know my name_  

 

The SHIELD agent’s face is briefly annoyed on the screen before all attacks and added firewalls cease, leading Jarvis to continue with his job. Tony preens at the reaction, letting out a chuckle when the agent goes back to his own work. 

 

Bruce is looking at him questioningly, Tony grins in reply and explains what he was doing.  

 

“You sure we’re under the radar with this Tony? I’m sure SHIELD’s got some heavy security on their files.” 

 

Bruce peers over his shoulder at the array of coding on the monitor, flashes of red ACCESS DENIED turning into ACCESS GRANTED popping up. 

 

“Don’t worry, I’ve got a guy who’ll keep this under wraps.” 

 

He’ll have to talk to this Jason Vesper in the future. 

 

— 

 

Steve breaks into one of the storage areas on a hunch. Banner and Stark made him doubt SHIELD’s sincerity, but unlike them he likes to see physical evidence, so he’s resorted to muscling his way through things. He jumps up to the catwalk, moving quietly and digging through the crates and finding nothing worth noting. He tries another crate, lifting it open. 

 

The black mask and symbol glared back at him, Steve’s blood running cold when he realises what exactly he’s staring at. He’s furious, hands shaking at the ugly reminder of the past. He grabs one of the guns, ignoring the glances of anyone as he marches back to the lab. On his way, Devrim steps out of a room and into his line of sight. The Englishman was about to greet him when his gaze falls on the HYDRA weapon in Steve’s hand. 

 

“What the fuck?” 

 

The shock is genuine on the sniper’s face, grey eyes meeting blue as the realisation comes to the Englishman.  

 

“Why the hell is it on this ship?” 

 

“You tell me Devrim, you knew anything about this?” 

 

“On my life, I didn’t. Shit...” 

 

“I believe you.” 

 

The super-soldier pats Devrim on the shoulder before continuing. Fury’s in the room with Stark and Banner. Just as Stark asks what Phase Two was, Steve slams the weapon down on the metal table. 

 

“Phase Two is SHIELD creating weapons using the cube, just like HYDRA did. Sorry Stark, the computer was moving a little too slow for me.” 

 

Fury starts to explain himself, but Stark interrupts with the screen showing schematics for new weapons, powered by the Tesseract. Steve’s gaze is still furious, locked onto Fury as he speaks. 

 

“I was wrong Director, humanity hasn’t changed one bit.” 

 

Thor and Romanoff walk into the lab, Banner looking at her heatedly as he asks of her knowledge of Phase Two. When Romanoff warns Banner to step away, the scientist bitterly laughs, challenging the redhead before asking Fury why he was building weapons. Fury points at Thor, talking about threats greater that exist beyond this world, and how they needed to be prepared. Stark interrupts with his own quip of the weapons being nuclear, alluding to history’s use of nuclear weapons to solve their problems.  

 

Everything falls into chaos as they start arguing, Banner taking the helm by attacking SHIELD’s motives while everyone else fights amongst each other. Steve takes on Stark’s jabs, anger building at the arrogance and selfishness of the man.  

 

“Take off the suit and what are you?” 

 

“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.” 

 

Amongst the red he was seeing was the light blue of Stark’s arc reactor. Steve steps closer, hands curling into fists as he and Stark stand chest to chest.  

 

“Put on the suit, let’s go a few rounds.”  

 

Stark scoffs at him, opening his mouth but Banner cuts to the chase with his story. The doctor is spitting out his past experience on wanting to kill himself, only to have the Hulk spit out the bullet he wanted to end his life with. Banner stalks forward to Romanoff, grabbing the sceptre as he moves closer to the agent. Both Fury and Romanoff hover their hand over their guns, Steve ignoring Stark for a moment. 

 

“Doctor Banner, please put the sceptre down.” 

 

Banner’s shaken out of his attack, glancing down at the weapon in his hand in shock. The beeping of a computer startles everyone, Banner setting the sceptre on the table and going over to the tracker. The tracker worked; people start crowding Banner to see where the Tesseract was located. Stark makes a move towards the door, saying how he could get to the location with his armour faster. Steve reaches out to stop the man, but Stark steps out of his grip. 

 

“You gonna stop me, Rogers?” 

 

“Put on the suit and we can go a few rounds.” 

 

“I’m not afraid to hit an old man.” 

 

An explosion rocks the entire ship. Steve, Fury, Thor and Stark were thrown across the room while Romanoff and Banner crashed through the window and down into the storage facilities. Steve clambers up to his feet, staring at Stark. 

 

“Put on the suit.” 

 

“Yep.” 

 

The two scramble towards the explosion site to help. They pass by panicked agents, and Steve’s stomach drops in fear at the thought of Jack or anyone else from Overwatch being caught in the blast. Tony tells him to haul ass to Engine Room Three and wait, Steve bolts past the agents and finds the door crumpled inwards. He uses all his strength to get it open, helping the three crewmen back inside 

 

“I’m in position Stark!” 

 

The sound of the armour’s thrusters come closer, and Steve watches the man review the debris before his orders were given. He leaps over the gap, pulling himself up towards the control panel and opens it up. Steve’s brain momentarily stops at the complex technology, brows furrowing as he shakes his head to focus and starts trying to decipher just what the hell he’s looking at. 

 

“What’s the situation Cap?” 

 

“I’m pretty sure it runs on electricity.” 

 

“Well, you wouldn’t be wrong. Hang on I’ll talk you through it Spangles.” 

 

Steve listens hard at Stark’s instructions, mumbling the words to himself as his fingers work through the various switches and components. Once everything was in place, he closes the open panel and touches his earpiece. 

 

“The relays are intact, what’s our next move?” 

 

“Jump-starting the rotors. I’m going in and pushing it until it moves automatically.” 

 

“Stark when that thing reaches working speed, you’ll get shredded.” 

 

“Not if you stay by the control panel and reverse polarity long enough to disenga—” 

 

“English, Stark.” 

 

“Red lever over there, it’ll slow down the rotors enough for me to get out. Wait for my signal to pull it.” 

 

Stark heads into the rotors while he moves towards said lever. His hand hovers over it, the other holding onto the railing to steady himself from the strong winds. Steve bites down his fear as he looks down at just how high up they were, waiting for Stark’s word. Armoured men arrive, and Steve squints to look at the insignia on their uniform. One of them unpins a grenade, and Steve jumps and knocks it down towards the open air before slamming the imposter to the ground. He punches the one behind and throws him off the ship before dodging a spray of bullets. Climbing up the railing, he grabs the discarded gun and shoots. He backs into position, shooting at any head that pops up that isn’t friendly. 

 

A bullet to the railing, the shrapnel nearly hits his face. As he backs away and blinks, the helicarrier tilts violently and he’s thrown off the ship. He grabs on to a severed cord and hangs on. 

 

“Cap! Kinda need the lever now!” 

 

“Need a minute Shellhead!”  

 

He hears Stark get beaten up by the moving rotors, steeling his determination and climbing. Avoiding the bullets, he slams down the lever and moves out of the thug’s line of sight. He peeks his head out and scrambles to grab something  _anything_  to throw when Iron Man tackles the man. He breathes out a sigh of relief, climbing down to where the Iron Man suit lay. The suit’s banged up beyond belief, but Stark was alright. 

 

“Good to see you Stark.” 

 

“Yeah, same to you Captain.” 

 

The helicarrier’s stable now, Fury’s voice filtering through their earpieces about Coulson’s condition. 

 

“They called it.” 

 

Both he and Stark freeze, looking at each other before making their way through to the main platform. Fury’s waiting for them, his rage contained as he waits for them to sit down. Steve stares blankly at the table, sending a quick farewell and prayer for Coulson’s soul while Starks’s gaze falls to the ground. Fury’s tossing Coulson’s bloody trading cards onto the table, and Steve’s only marginally proud of himself when his hand doesn’t shake as he takes one to inspect it. He’s listening to Fury but straightens up when the man mentions the Avengers Initiative. 

 

A dream, of bringing people like him and Stark, of Banner, Romanoff and Thor into a team and become Earth’s heroes. A dream Phil Coulson believed in with all his heart and tried to make true. Stark angrily walks away from the table, and Steve watches him go before standing up and settling next to Fury. 

 

“With all due respect Director, why not use Overwatch? They’re an accomplished team with two snipers and combat medic. They have experience under their belt and the teamwork, if anyone deserves to be heroes it’s them.” 

 

Fury looks at him, bringing up the personnel files of each Overwatch member on the table display. A photo of their face, their rank and the insignia for the Overwatch team. 

 

“Overwatch, with the exception of Doctor Ziegler, Agent Vesper and Winston, are military. They’re not a team of superheroes, Overwatch is a highly skilled military strike team. The Avengers Initiative was something I created after meeting someone with the calibre of a hero, and I chose you for the team because you possessed the skills and attitude for good. I didn’t need a team of soldiers; I needed a team of heroes.” 

 

Steve mulls over Fury’s words as he walks through the ship’s halls. He asks a nearby crewman if they’ve seen the Overwatch team, and follows the directions the crew gave him before walking towards where the group were sitting in the mess. 

Jack’s the first to stand up and greet him, a streak of soot on his jaw. Steve nods, taking in the rest of the team. Everyone was there, save for Angela. She must be working with the medical team on the injured and dead.  Lena’s sniffling, nose and eyes red from tears. She was leaning against Fareeha, who had salt drying on her cheeks. Ana’s head was bowed down, palms splayed open as her lips mumble her prayers. It’s Jason who’s shaking, expression void as both Devrim and Gabe try to snap him out of it. 

 

“Coulson was his mentor. When Jason first started handler duties he reported to Phil.” Jack explained, brows furrowing in worry for his partner. 

 

“Phil was our friend, we will miss him.”  It was Ana who spoke up, her dark eyes watery as she let out a little chuckle. “There were a lot of fun moments between us and Phil. Whenever he joined us for missions it was always a treat, because of how well he fit in.” 

 

Steve lets the team grieve to find Stark, trying to distract himself from the images of bloodied cards. Stark was in the detention centre, now void of the glass cell that Loki was previously held in. Stark called him an idiot, Steve thought that was unfair because Coulson was doing his best against an enemy none of them had ever faced off against. It’s together, that they lay out Loki’s tactics and strategize their next move. 

 

“He’s a full-tilt diva. Loki  _wants_  flowers. He wants parades, accolades and banners with a monument built with his name plastered..” 

 

Stark trails off, Steve’s brows raising when he sees Stark’s brain have an actual moment before, 

 

“Son of a bitch.” 

 

Steve doesn’t follow until it hits him as well. 

 

“Big ugly tower?” 

 

“Big ugly tower.” 

 

 

Stark leaves to repair his armour, while Steve tracks down Romanoff to one of the med bay rooms. He’s asking her to fly the jet when Barton, the one Loki had brainwashed, comes out of the bathroom and offers to be her co-pilot. He looks to Romanoff, who nods, and tells them both to suit up. 

 

“Not taking Officer Oxton?” Romanoff asks. Steve shakes his head, “This is just the team Coulson believed in. With the Avengers.” 

 

Romanoff mulls over his words, nodding and exiting the room with him. Once they all had their gear on, the trio marched through the aircraft hangar and kicked out the crewman doing a maintenance check on the jet. Barton and Romanoff are doing the flight checks when Jack boards the jet, beckoning Steve to come closer. 

 

“You got your own team now, I suppose a congratulation is in order.” 

 

“I did say this was hereditary.” 

 

Jack rolls his eyes, remembering their earlier conversation. His expression grows serious, and he’s not just Steve’s grand-nephew anymore. He’s Commander Morrison, leader and fellow soldier. 

 

“Steve, don’t lead this team like you did with the Commandos.” Steve shoots him a questioning look, crossing his arms and nodding for Jack to continue. “You got civvies and non-military types in your roster, your XO’s a genius billionaire who flies in a suit of armour. Get used to suggesting order, or giving out ones that are palpable for people like Stark. If you’re doing the whole co-leaders thing, try and get along with your second as much as possible. I’m not saying date your XO, but then again I’m a poor example of that.” 

 

They both laugh. 

 

“Why are you telling me this  _now_  Jack?” 

 

“Because now you’re actually serious about working together.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked this chapter!
> 
> My twitter is @the_sas_queen if you wanna say hi


	3. chapter three.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> teamwork makes the dream work
> 
> the battle of new york, with backup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took ages because i ended up hating what i wrote a lot. next chapter is the last chapter! which will be a feel-good kind of ending. i do have plans to cover most of the MCU timeline with changes and tweaks!

Angela runs with the gurney to the nearest operating room, gloved hands soaked in blood as her team tries to maintain Phil’s weak pulse. She’s barking orders for agents to move and prep the table, cutting away Phil’s suit and shirt before the windows to the room black out.

“Doctor Ziegler, engage the Juliet protocol. No one can know Phil Coulson is alive for now.”

He codes.

The doctor breathes in, hands steadying as she grabs her Caduceus staff. Adjusting the mechanics briefly, she lets the staff power up before signalling her team to stand back. Once the resurrection mechanism has reached full power, she holds the tip of the staff on Phil’s chest. A golden glow envelops the agent, and with a choked gasp the heart monitor starts back up at a frantic pace, her assistant swooping in with an anesthetic as Angela puts the staff to the side and begins her operation. She will not let him die.

—

“They needed the push.”

“Sir, Coulson will actually rise from the dead when he finds out what you did to his vintage set.”

Fury bites back a smirk, having full faith in Dr Ziegler to use her knowledge and tech to make sure his best agent stays alive.

“Get comms back up, I want eyes on everything. Pull Winston to the server room or in the engine to use that big brain of his to repair our systems .”

A blond man approaches Fury, dressed in blue  armour . If it weren’t for the lack of red, he could have been mistaken for Captain America. His heels click together as he salutes the Director, expression neutral. Fury turns to him slowly, solitary eye noting the readiness in Jack’s stature.

“Commander Morrison, did you need something?”

“I’m requesting permission to deploy the Overwatch strike team as support for the Avengers in New York.”

“Permission granted. Captain Rogers will take point on this mission, you and your team are expected to follow his orders. Get everyone suited up and take the jet.”

—

Steve’s silent in the quinjet, the gentle rocking of the plane easing his nerves. Stark already went ahead to the city, his suit faster than them. He sees the island of Manhattan grow closer outside of the jet, and a bright blue beam shoots up into the sky from Stark Tower and opens a portal. Things start flying out, they can see Stark fighting back but too many slips through the cracks. They fly through Park, Romanoff prepping the ship’s  minigun  and firing. They take down most of them, the remainder crashing into the streets in small explosions. The quinjet flies up to Stark Tower, seeing red and green clashing on the balcony. Natasha aims, spraying bullets towards Loki before a beam of energy clips the quinjet’s wings and they spiral down.

Barton lands the bird, opening the ramp as soon as they’re all steady. They run up the viaduct on Park, staring up at the portal above Stark Tower. They need to get back up there to support Stark. A roar, primordial and chilling echoes through the streets from the portal.  An ear-splitting shriek from up above  and a gigantic alien flies out down onto the streets. Dozens of smaller  Chitauri  launch from its underside, grabbing onto buildings and attacking anything that moves.

“Stark you seeing this?”

“Yep, definitely seeing. Still working on the believing part.”

The three of them hide behind destroyed taxis before Romanoff urges him to go save the civilians down the road while she and Barton fend off the aliens. Steve runs, leaping over cars and debris, shouting at civilians to take shelter and hide from the streets, taking down aliens along the way. He sees the bright blue and red lights of police cars, jumping onto a nearby car and giving out orders for  evac  and containment. Just as one of the police officers questions him, two  Chitauri  aliens attack. He fights them off easily, tossing one of the alien weapons to the officers before leaving.

He runs back to the SHIELD agents, slamming his shield onto two aliens advancing on the archer. Bolts of lightning hit the remaining  Chitauri , Thor flying into their group. Steve asks for a status update on the machine holding the portal, frowning when he hears of the barrier surrounding it. The fight needs to be on them, he starts to formulate a plan when the sound of a motorcycle interrupts him. Banner’s on the seat, weaving his way through the debris. Steve’s glad the doctor is alright, looking a little tired but that’s all of them at this point. Banner’s looking around, a little amused.

“This all seems, horrible.”

“I’ve seen worse.”

“Stark, Banner’s here. Just like you said.”

“Tell him to suit up, I’m bringing the party to you guys.”

They all stare at the Iron Man  armour  flying around a building, the giant  Chitauri  following him and destroying a building. The massive alien flies low, its belly scraping the ground as it gets closer. Steve’s standing his ground but he’s scared shitless and looks at the still human doctor.

“Doctor Banner, now might be a good time to get angry.”

“Well that’s my secret Cap, I’m always angry.”

The man turns big and green, punching the alien in the face as the worm-like body  vaults overhead. Stark launches a rocket to the body, an explosion severing the  Chitauri  into smaller pieces as he covers himself and Romanoff under his shield.

The Avengers stand in a circle, ready to fight against the  Chitauri  forces and Loki’s madness.  Steve starts giving out orders, watching his team disperse throughout  the  area until it was only him  and  Nat. Their  comm channel crackles to life, a  familiar  voice filtering through.

“This is Commander Jack Morrison, we have orders to support your team against the  Chitauri  and Loki. Avengers, the Overwatch strike team has your six. Waiting for your command Captain Rogers.”

Steve lets a grin take over his face, putting a hand to his ear before speaking.

“Anyone missing from the team?”

“Only Winston.”

“Snipers I need you on rooftops with Barton picking at the ones flying through. Jason, get up to a building and patch in through a telecommunications tower. I need you watching and hearing everything, coordinate with local police to help them.  Fareeha , you’re part of the sky team, help Stark make sure nothing gets past the three-block perimeter. I need the  Blackwatch  team on the ground with Romanoff and I. Torbjorn, set up as many turrets on the roofs and in front of major civilian shelters, coordinate with Stark for pick up and drops. Reinhardt will take further down Parks and the side streets. If Lena’s not piloting the jet, I need her on the ground fighting. Anyone gets hurt, hail for Doctor Ziegler. Understood?”

There’s a chorus of “Yessir” and “Affirmative” from the Overwatch team, and their own jet weaves between the buildings. The  Blackwatch  team joins him, dressed in combat gear. Even in a fight, Jesse’s still got his cowboy hat, something that Romanoff snorts at. She greets Gabe in a friendly manner, nodding at Genji and Jesse.

“Hey golden boy! looks like you started the party without us.”

“Why does everyone say it’s a party.”

Gabe rolls his eyes and fires his shotgun at a  Chitauri , while Genji hops off the bridge and scales over cars to attack. Steve hears Jason patch through the comm channels, calling out clusters of aliens for people to target. The chatter in the comms becomes background noise to him as he fights.

“McCree, you and Lena make your way through the streets for stragglers and get them to safety and keep on patrolling to make sure no  Chitauri  are getting to the shelters. Jason, I need you to be their eyes and ears. Anything goes to hell, you report back.”

“Captain if we don’t close that damn portal, this is all gonna be for nothing.”

Romanoff's talking to him, lifting her chin up at Stark Tower. Steve looks up at the portal, jaw clenching as he tries to figure out something. The redhead gestures at the chariots the  Chitauri  were flying and asks him for a boost. He only has three seconds to admire her grace and skill before he’s under attack. The butt of a rifle slams into the head of a  Chitauri  that’s crept up on him, and Steve looks at Jack, ready for action in his blue uniform.

“Commander.”

“Captain, let’s rock n’ roll.”

—

Even though his interactions with SHIELD have been rocky at best since joining Fury’s little dream team, he has to admit the Overwatch team is good at what they do. As soon as Steve gave his orders, everyone got into their positions. He was surprised to hear the name Jason, and a quick flyover confirmed that it was the SHIELD agent that intercepted his hacking earlier. Flying along with him was a woman in an eagle-like suit, rocket launcher in her hands that she used with deadly precision. The two snipers on the room, a man and a woman, did a fantastic job of picking off the stragglers . He hovers near the rooftop Jason was operating at, hidden half-under the quinjet to avoid the aliens’ sight.

“Vesper, nice to see you in the flesh.”

“Mr Stark, I suppose I can say the same thing.”

The agent’s tone was playful, so Tony didn’t take offence. He watches the three monitors placed in front of Jason in a semi-circle filled with trackers for all of them and other intel. It’s impressive, how the agent can keep up with everything, eyes flicking through each screen and giving orders and updates to the two teams. Tony leaves him alone, flying away when the agent shoos him and follows  Fareeha  through the streets and blasting at the  Chitauri . A particularly large group have congregated towards the ground team, who haven’t seen them.  Fareeha  does a steep nosedive, flying overhead the ground team and hovering in front of the attacking  Chitauri  forces. Her suit opens up to reveal her rockets, and with a battle cry, she launches them at the aliens. The explosions were breathtaking, and Tony lands next to her and watches the fireballs subside before turning to her.

“That was fucking beautiful.”

“Thank you, Stark.”

He can see her grin from under her half-helmet, smiling to himself as they both take to the skies again. A flash of gold and they’re joined by an actual fucking angel, with a staff that was giving him a boost of  _ something _  that had gotten rid of all his fatigue and renewed his energy. She lets out a cheery “I’m with you!” and she flew with them. He hears  Fareeha  greet her, this was probably the Angela Steve was talking about.

“Vitals are steady for both of you.”

She leaves them, golden wings trailing after her as she takes out a pistol and starts killing the  Chitauri . He lands on the ground with the  Capsicle , fighting alongside him and the ground team. A mass of black smoke appeared in the middle of a large cluster of  Chitauri , then the deafening sounds of shotgun blasts kill all of them. He hears an angry Japanese battle cry and a flash of red, and an honest to god fucking  ** dragon **  is wrapped around the cyborg ninja’s sword. Tony’s gaping at the way the ninja’s scaling the walls and killing everything in sight. The air goes still, dry and hot like a desert and a voice rings through all the sound.

“ _ **Step right up**_.”

Six shots ring out, and six  Chitauri  fall dead with a bullet between their eyes. Tony stares incredulously at the cowboy, who’s casually reloading his gun before rolling away. And if that wasn’t enough, the girl with the blue thing strapped to her chest was teleporting and  _ rewinding her body through time _  and sticking bombs onto the aliens. 

_ Who the hell are these people? _

There’s another blond dressed in blue fighting alongside Steve, Tony does a double take at newcomer because of how much he looks like Steve. The two men fight in sync,  b londe newbie  holding a heavy-looking rifle with ease and launching mini-rockets at the aliens. It’s like seeing double, and it’s slightly disturbing him.  Cap and Newbie  have the bridge down pat while the rest of the ground team  are spread out. Things were finally a bit under control when Fury tells them the worst news in existence.

“We got a missile headed to the city.”

—

Steve’s furious . He’s about to rip into Fury when Jason’s speaking frantically into everyone’s earpieces about  the  jet’s details and who  authorised  the  airstrike .  A goddamn missile to the city of New York , filled with more civilians than hostiles.  Jack’s jaw is slack in disbelief as they watch Stark’s Iron Man suit fly away from the city.  They both shake out of their shock and get right to the action. 

“You heard Jason, bogey’s coming in hot. Clear a path for Stark and keep the civilians safe no matter what!”

Jack’s the one barking orders this time, jaw clenched as he shoots a  Chitauri  point blank. Steve’s angrily fighting too, throwing his shield and punching aliens as hard as he can. His front is exposed as he pushes a  Chitauri  away with his shield, and he takes a blast straight to the abdomen. Thor helps him up, Steve joking with the god  before they finally get good news.  Romanoff’s on the roof with a  clear-headed  Selvig  and they close the portal with Loki’s sceptre . Steve gives the command, but Stark’s strained voice over the comms come through.

Right, the nuclear missile.

As soon as the idea passes through Stark’s mouth,  Steve’s blood ran cold. He's learned how much power a nuclear weapon held,  but if Stark’s gonna launch that thing into space  there’s not a lot of room for error.

“Stark, you know that’s a one-way trip.”

“I know  Capsicle .”

Everyone’s watching as the Iron Man  flies up to the portal with the missile, holding their breath when he disappears into the blackness of the portal.  There’s nothing until Jason’ s  voice cuts through the silence.

“Captain  I’ve lost contact with the Iron Man suit.”

There’s restrained  panic in Jason’s tone, and Steve can practically hear the agent’s fingers working furiously to get their comms to link back up to  Stark’s suit .  They wait for a sign, something to indicate the genius was alive and returning.  Too much time had passed, and Steve gives Romanoff the order to close the portal.  Just as the portal disappears, a small figure is seen hurtling out and back into the city sky.

“Son of a gun.”

Steve lets out a breath he didn’t even know he held, but Thor’s  words cut his relief short. Stark was falling,  fast, Thor starts to wind up his hammer but Banner beats him. The Hulk  grabs Stark’s prone body out of the air, cradling the genius in his arms as they both  fall back to the ground. Hulk lays Stark on his back, ripping the mask off as someone calls for Angela to come. She’s there with a click of her heels, golden healing stream enveloping Tony as she crouches near him.

“He’s alive.”

The Hulk was impatient, roaring into the genius’ face as Stark wakes up with a gasp. His eyes land on Steve, who lets out a sigh of relief before grinning. 

“What the hell just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me.”

Honestly, Steve might actually kiss the damn man for pulling a stunt like that and surviving. He just breathes out a quiet “we won,” while Stark cheers and proposes they get food. It honestly sounds good, but they do have unfinished business with the green trickster. Using the flight powers of everyone on the team, they managed to get back up to the Tower while the Overwatch team was helping SHIELD forces, the National Guard and local police clear rubble and look for more survivors.

The god did look pitiful, crawling from the crater on the floor. He turns back, a little smirk on his face and telling Stark he’d like that drink. Thor conjures up some  Asgardian  handcuffs, which makes Loki wince as it seemed to do something to his powers. Barton immediately makes his way to the bar to pour himself and Romanoff a drink, the two clinking glasses as Steve watches everyone. 

“The shawarma place that Stark mentioned is still open, would you like us to get you all food?”

It’s Devrim who asks, in between the sounds of huffing and rubble moving. Steve thinks, looking at his team and seeing how the doctor had staggered on his feet after shrinking back from the Hulk. He looks at the others, noting the fatigue and wondering when was the last time they ate. He did eat on the ship’s commissary and saw Stark snacking but the others? He doesn’t know. If he’s going to lead the team, he’ll need to be attentive to everyone. 

“Might as well, I’ll warn you it’ll be a lot of food.”

“I’ll get Stark to foot the bill, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. I’ve got lots of hands to carry it up.”

Steve can practically hear Devrim’s smirk, rolling his eyes at the Englishman before he goes over to where Stark is. 

“I got someone swinging by with food from that... shawarma was it? That place you mentioned, for everyone. Hope you don’t mind it’s on your dime.”

The genius waves him off with a nod, drink in hand as he’s furiously typing into his phone. Romanoff is on the phone while Barton is watching her, eyes still wary. Steve stands near the broken glass window, looking out at the destruction of the city. He wonders what would happen next, if SHIELD was going to be involved in the cleanup or if there are groups that do that for them in this agency. The elevator dings and everyone turns their head to the group of SHIELD agents that was not Overwatch with briefcases. Steve stares at them warily as the guy in charge, a bald guy he’s seen on the bridge, request Loki’s sceptre and the Tesseract be given to them for containment. Immediately Thor protests, saying the Tesseract belongs on Asgard but they were free to take the sceptre. Steve watches the exchange as the agents’ hands hover over their guns before he steps in.

“Given SHIELD’s history with the cube and what they plan to do with it, I’m siding with Thor.”

He gives his best glare, or as Bucky called it, the Look of American Disappointment and Anger. The agents shrink back, glaring back at him before Stark jumps in after getting off the phone and agreeing with him. The agents finally back down, getting only the sceptre before disappearing. He hears Barton relay this to Fury, but after that, they fall back to the post-battle lull.

Ten minutes later, a quinjet lands on the pad with the Overwatch crew in tow. In their hands were bags of food, something everyone’s stomachs appreciated as it was handed out. Introductions were before everyone starts tearing into their food. Steve’s sitting on the couch with Jack, Reinhardt, Thor and Gabe while he sees the snipers eating together. Jason is talking to Stark and Banner, probably about technology, while the younger agents were talking to Romanoff. Loki was on the ground, handcuffs and a muzzle on him while Thor’s hammer Mjolnir was on his chest, preventing him from moving. It was nice, both teams mixing together and having fun.  There’s shouting, and they all look to see Jesse and Lena egg on Barton to eat his food as fast as possible. Ana is shouting at them for thinking of something so stupid, while he and Gabe trade grins as they ate.

Jack’s phone suddenly rang, and h is brows raise slight ly before answering.

“Hey, Ma! ”

The other three husbands  look towards Jack, Jason and Devrim excusing themselves before joining Jack and Gabe and trying to get  closer.

“Hello, Mum.”

“Mama Mary!”

“Ma!”

The voice coming through the phone was warm, cooing her greetings at the husbands. Steve couldn’t help but smile, excited to talk to another member of his family. He hears her fuss over everyone and yelling at the Overwatch team, in particular, Genji and Jesse, for being careless. Jack introduces her to the Avengers team, who greet her with smiles. Tony’s trying to poke his head through and see her face but made a disappointed sound when it was just her voice.

“Now where’s Steve? I’d like to speak to him.”

Jack hands him the phone, shooing him to go somewhere quiet to speak to Mary. He hears them trying to prevent Tony from spying on him, chuckling a bit as he walks away.

“Hello?”

“Oh, Steve! It’s so nice to finally hear from you. I’m Jack’s mother Mary, but you can just call me Mary or Mama. Goodness, Wendell’s all up in a tizzy seeing you on TV. He’s gone for his nap now but he was so happy to see you fight! How are you dear?”

   
His throat’s tight at the absolute love that’s radiating from Mary’s voice. She’s never met him, only knew him from her father-in-law's stories but here she was talking to him like he was one of her sons.

“I’m good ma’am. A little overwhelmed but I’m glad Jack’s with me.”

“ I told you, Mama or Mary.  That’s wonderful, it must be scary waking up in a new time and then fighting aliens from outer space.”

He laughs .

Mary’s asking all kinds of questions, getting to know him and damn if it doesn’t make him feel all warm and fuzzy having someone fuss over him like this. He misses his ma something awful, wishing she could see this new century where she didn’t have to worry about him being sick.  He zones out a bit but is snapped back to the conversation when he hears Mary ask him to come to Indiana.

“I’m sure you’re busy and all, Thanksgiving isn’t for a few months and usually Jack, Jimmy and the boys would fly down to Bloomington to celebrate it with us. Of course, you’re always welcome, you’re family Steve. But I think it’d be a real treat for Pops to have you see him, he misses you a lot.”

How could he say no to seeing Wendell? He wonders what his cousin is like now, catch up on everything he’s missed and meet Wendell’s kids. He wonders if he’ll meet the elusive Lucien, who Jack says was a bit of an odd duck in the family and came and went as he pleased, but everyone loved him. There are so many things he wants to do, now that the fighting was over. Stark’s convinced Fury will give them a break, in the time he can reconnect with his old unit the Howling Commandos, find out if they were still alive. He takes a deep breath before speaking.

“I’d like to look for my old unit if that’s alright with you Mary. I don’t know who else is left of the Howling Commandos, I’d like to  at least meet their families too.”

“Oh honey, take all the time you need. We’ll be waiting for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! leave a comment if you'd like
> 
> my twitter is @the_sas_queen if you wanna say hi!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this!
> 
> My twitter is @the_sas_queen if you wanna say hi


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